Norms and Social Influence Flashcards
Descriptive social norms
- a person’s belief about what other people do
- e.g. In ads, selling product by advertising how many people use it/how popular it is
- here is what the majority of people are doing, that’s what you want to be doing too
Injunctive social norms
- a person’s belief about what other people approve or drisapprove of doing
- telling you what people think you ought to be doing or not be doing
- e.g. speed limit signs
power of decriptive norms in voting study
- both conditions were saying to go vote, but the second version is more powerful (do it because others are doing it)
descriptive norms reflect on what?
times when we don’t conform to what others are doing—intentionally or unintentionally
Descriptive and injunctive norms research example: recycling
- effect of simply conveying descriptive norm info was twice as big—much stronger effect (intention to recycle)
- BUT, people thought other stuff made the ads persuasive, didn’t think providing info about descriptive norms was persuasive
why and when people conform to descriptive norms
- need to belong
- need to know
Descriptive norms: need to belong
- motivation to act in ways that will be approved of by others in the local environment
- motivates us to act in ways that we think will make others like us (acting like them)
Descriptive norms: need to know
- motivation to act in ways that are objectively smart or sensible in the context of the local environment
- when we are unclear of the situation, want to know whether the things we do are sensible in the situation
- look around to see what others are doing
Descriptive norms: Conformity with the majority
- when people feel a stronger need to belong —> more likely to conform (e.g. conditions in which people worry more about others’ approval)
- when people feel a stronger need to know —> more likely to conform (e.g. conditions in which people experience more uncertainty)
Threats & Conformity
- when people are worried about threats, they are more likely to conform
- tied into “need to know”
- threats = sense of uncertainty
Infectious disease study
- experimental manipulations: (neutral control, other threats salient (own safety), disease threats salient (infection))
- measured conformity of majority opinion (how others are endorsing stuff or not)
- disease tends to be a collective phenomenon, whereas other kinds of threats are between you and the threat
- conformity to norms might be necessary to avoid spread of disease
Culture & Conformity
- there are stronger conformity pressures and higher levels of conformity in collectivistiv cultures
Culture’s constraints article
- define cultures according to how strong the norms are within them, how compelled people feel to cnform, and what people feel when they don’t
- tight and loose cultures
tight cultures
- stronger norms and low tolerance for deviant behaviours
- exist in places where there have historically been more threats (infectious diseases)
loose cultures
- weak norms and high tolerane for deviant behaviours
- compared with tighter countries, looser countries had 5x COVID cases and almost 9x deaths
Social norms
an individual’s beliefs about the common and accepted behaviour within a group
recognized as an instigator of behaviour change, yet its influence goes largely undetected
Social influence
psychological change brought as a result of the behaviour of other people
Conformity
changing one’s behaviour to more closely approximate the behaviour of others
influence can be conscious or nonconscious
synonymous with descriptive social norms
The large number of people who engage in a desirable behaviour can promote…
…change
Seen especially in pro-environmental behaviours and reducing excessive liq consumption
Alcohol: Personalized normative feedback
student telling how much they drink and how much other students drink
Environmental protection
Most effective use of social norms is in energy conservation
Residents’ energy consumption being compared to their neighbours’ —> lowers consumption
Normative social influence vs proscriptive behaviours
Normative social influence might be more effective than proscriptive behaviours
Behaviours that are desirable vs those that should be avoided
Moderator: Magnetic middle
normative message can increase the frequency of a behaviour for individuals who are below the norm AND decrease the frequency of that behavior for individuals above the norm
ex. liq consumption
Moderator: Deviation from the norm
individuals are more tolerant of norm deviations that are socially approved
ex. green smiley face to energy conservers
Moderator: Personal values
social norms work best when they target individuals who are not personally interested in the topic
ex. message telling similar households use less water than they do is more likely to change behaviour when household members hold less strong beliefs about conservation
Moderator: Culture
social norms can influence behaviours in both collectivist and individualist cultures, BUT individualist cultures tend to discount this influence
Moderator: Norm activation
influence of social norms tends to be enhanced when they are made salient by a contextual cue
ex. “Please don’t litter” can decrease littering when the park is clean BUT can increase it when the park is dirty
Moderator: Reference to changing frequency
when a behaviour is becoming more common (trending), it can be more influential, even when it occurs in a low rate
Moderator: Social identity
normative information tends to be more influential when it pertains to an in-group, rather than out-group
ex. a message aimed at students that uses examples of other students rather than professors
Gardening societies
TIGHT
synchronized communication, orderliness, and cohesiveness
Hunting and fishing societies
LOOSE
less synchronized
Tightness-looseness on collectivism
only had moderate correlation with collectivism
Nation with higher degrees of ecological and historical threat
had greater tightness
Differences in tightness-looseness
related to ecological and historical factors, societal institutions, the strength of everyday situation, and the psychological attributes of citizens
